R-A-S-F-S-I-H
by lilwoodb
Summary: This is a story I wrote a couple years ago, and it's kind of a prequel to my other story, An Empty Rainbow. There's a couple things I alluded to in there that will be fully explained here, namely the Rainbow Fairies' predecessors. Also a lot of stuff about growing up and getting along with siblings. Oh, and the other types of fairies will make some appearances. Enjoy! :-)
1. Prologue

**A/N Well, hello there, RM fans. Fair warning, this story's not written very well, but again, if enough people like it, I might start working on it again. So here it is. DISCLAIMER: I don't own this series.**

**Oh, and supercooldemonicizzywhich, this is dedicated to you.**

Prologue

On a certain island there is a forest.

In the forest there is a clearing.

In the clearing there is a willow tree.

And under the willow tree is an old black pot.

This pot has existed since the beginning of time, and it has a very special job to do. But the pot had been sleeping for nearly one hundred years.

Then, early one morning, on a day before you were born, the pot reawakened.

And someone saw it.

* * *

There was a knock on the door.

"It's probably Red," said Cantaloupe to her sisters, getting up from the kitchen table. She crossed the living room and opened the door. Sure enough, there was the girls' eldest sister, hovering in the air, back from her daily morning flight.

"Good morning," Red said as she and Cantaloupe entered the kitchen.

"How's the weather out there?" Lemon asked.

"Warm and sunny. Doodle must have been in a good mood this morning." Red took her seat between Cantaloupe and Plum, smoothing down her red leather dress. "What's for breakfast today?"

"I made your favorite, French Toast," Kiwi told her.

Red looked at Kiwi in surprise. "What's the occasion?"

Kiwi shrugged. "Dunno. Today just feels magical, that's all."

"I've been feeling the same way," Lemon put in. "I wonder why. The Midsummer Ball is still a week away."

"You're just getting early jitters," Red teased. "After all, I'm sure you're just dying to dance with that one elf, now what was his name—"

"I am not!" Lemon interrupted hotly, a pretty blush as crimson as Red's dress creeping up her cheeks. "You know I hate dancing!"

"Alright, you two, that's enough," Plum cut in. Although she was the youngest sister, Plum was the best peacemaker, and could usually solve arguments pretty quickly. "Red, stop teasing Lemon and eat your breakfast."

Red rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother." They all laughed.

And so for the next fifteen minutes, the usual chatter resumed around the table. At one point, Kiwi told a funny joke she had learned from her best friend Spring the Mist Fairy, and all seven sisters burst out laughing. All that is, except for two.

Cantaloupe, ever the observant one, was the first to spot it. "Hey, Blueberry, Blackberry," she said to the twins. "You guys have been rather quiet. Anything the matter?"

"Yeah, neither of you have said a word all morning," Lemon added. "What's up?"

The two girls in question shared a look, and the others knew that they were holding one of their silent conversations, most likely about whether they should share what they knew with the others. Finally, they seemed to come to a consensus, and as one turned to face their sisters.

Blackberry spoke first. "Blue and I discovered something this morning, before you guys were up," she said rather ominously.

"Is it serious?" Red asked patiently, a look of concern crossing her sharp features.

They both hesitated, then nodded. "Show 'em, Blue," Blackberry said.

Blueberry, looking a little nervous, lifted up both of her hands to her head and pulled back her silvery-blue hair from the left side of her face, exposing her hairline.

The other girls spotted it immediately, and gasped. Finally, Kiwi said in disbelief, "Is that what I think it is?"

Blackberry nodded. "Yup. It's a blemish."

"Do you think the rest of us have them, too?" Plum said in a small, quivery voice. Then, after a moment, as if by some signal, the girls simultaneously bolted out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, where they crowded around the washbasin to peer in the large mirror.

It wasn't long before the others found them, too. Blackberry had a zit in front of her ear, and Cantaloupe spotted two whiteheads under her jaw. Lemon, always fussing over her appearance, gave a shriek of horror in finding a sprinkling of blackheads across her nose. Plum, upon discovering a pimple on her cheek, drew back and spoke to Red with a pitiful look in her eyes. "Do you think this means that . . . . that—"

"OW!" cried Kiwi, doubling over as if she had been punched in the stomach.

Brushing past Plum, Red helped Kiwi up. She had long known that Kiwi was very sensitive to pain, so it probably wasn't that bad. But an uneasy feeling settled over her as she noticed that Kiwi was clutching her chest. Afraid she already knew what the problem was, Red asked anyway, "What is it, Kiwi?"

"I don't know! I just got this weird twinge, and—oh." A look of understanding crossed Kiwi's face. "Here," she said, taking Red's hands into her own and pressing them against her chest.

Red had indeed been right about the cause of the pain, but still her eyebrows rose in shock. "Oh. Yeah, I feel them, alright." She slowly swiveled to look at her other sisters. They had all gone quiet, as the reality settled upon them. Yet, it still felt wrong, as if like a dream. Their time couldn't be up yet, it just couldn't! But all seven sisters knew the truth, that their worst fear—the one they had been dreading for nearly a century—had finally been confirmed: after being ten years old for nearly one hundred years, they had now turned eleven.

Which meant . . . .

"Girls," Red gulped, "I'm afraid that . . . . that we're no longer the Rainbow Fairies."

* * *

Then the doorbell rang.

Red, shaking herself out of her stupor, left the bathroom and walked mechanically through the kitchen and living room to the front door. Opening it, she peered out, only to discover that no one was there.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to find Cantaloupe standing behind her, ginger hair gleaming like fire in the morning daylight. "The doorbell rang, remember?" she reminded Red. "That means our visitor isn't a fairy."

Red gave her younger sister a blank look.

"Open the trapdoor."

"Oh. Of course." Red crossed the living room to the kitchen threshold, where the other girls were gathered, and lifted up the board. Then she brought out her red wand and tapped the gold tip in the center of the spot where the board was. Magically a section of the floor swung slowly upwards, exposing a flight of stairs. With Red leading the way, the girls climbed down them to the _other_ front door.

If you haven't figured this out yet, let me explain. The fairies live in a toadstool, as you might expect. The actual living area is in the cap, and is pretty much like a two-story house. There are two entrances: one is off the ground and is found at the base of the cap. This enables a fairy to simply fly right up to the door and let herself in. But for visitors that don't have wings, such as elves or other creatures, there is a second entrance at the base of the stem. The stem itself has a spiral staircase carved out of it, which leads up into the cap, usually somewhere in the living room or kitchen, depending on the size of the toadstool. In this case, of course, the trapdoor was between the two rooms.

Red opened the door to reveal a big green frog in a purple uniform and wearing glasses. "Good morning, Bertram," she said, beckoning him inside.

But Bertram stayed where he was. "And to you, too, Miss Strawberry," he replied in a rushed tone.

Red's cherry-colored eyes flashed in annoyance at the use of her real name, but she said nothing. And even if she had, Bertram wouldn't have noticed, as he obviously had more pressing matters on his mind.

"What's the matter?" Blackberry said, elbowing her way to stand beside Red.

"You girls must come quickly," he told them. "There's something you need to see."

As her sisters filed out of the door, Red asked Bertram in a low voice, "I don't suppose it's anyone's birthday today, if you know what I mean."

Bertram looked confused for a moment, but then he realized what she meant, and softened his expression to one of pity. "I'm afraid so. A new generation is on its way."

Red nodded. "Thought so. Blue and Black discovered the signs this morning." Then she gasped as another realization hit her. "Then that means—girls!" The other six fairies crowded around Red to listen. "Bertram just confirmed what we figured out earlier, and this means that—" she swallowed, eyes brimming with tears, "it means Ruby and her sisters are . . . . gone," she finished in a small voice.

If the girls hadn't been distraught enough already, this realization was enough to do the deed. Ruby, Citrine, Zircon, Peridot, Aquamarine, Sapphira, and Amethyst had been the group of Rainbow Fairies in the previous generation, and as was customary after retirement, they had become mentors to Red's group. But now that there was another group coming, Ruby and the others had faded away, and simply ceased to exist. Ruby had been especially close to Red and her sisters, and the girls knew they would miss her the most.

By an unspoken agreement, the fairies knelt on the ground and shared a moment of silence for their mentors, while Bertram stood off to the side respectfully. Then Lemon, ever the optimist (she was the Yellow Fairy after all), stood up first and brushed the dirt off of her yellow dress, also smoothing down her long blonde hair. "Well," she said briskly, "I think we've had enough time feeling sorry for ourselves. Now let's put on our happy faces and go welcome our successors into Fairyland!" And with that, she took to her wings and started off in the direction of the rainbow.

"Easy for _her_ to say," Blackberry muttered to Blueberry as the others followed Lemon's example.

Blueberry squeezed her twin's hand and brushed away a stray lock of blue-black hair. "Oh, Blackberry, you're always so negative. Lemon does have a point, you know. I'm sure you don't want the king and queen to see you sulking like this!"

"Well, I'm the Indigo Fairy," Blackberry replied indifferently. "What more can they expect?"

"Alright then, how about Madame Grey? She'll be there, too."

"Oh. Uh, yeah, point taken." Round One, Blueberry.

At the rainbow, each girl flew to her color's stripe, and off they went, with Bertram bringing up the rear. As you may already know, the rainbow naturally took them straight to the center of Rainspell Island (Fairyland's link to the human realm), where the magic clearing was.

"I haven't been here in so long!" Kiwi exclaimed, voicing the delight that all the sisters felt. Now if you've read the first seven books in the Rainbow Magic series, you'll know that this is the same clearing. But if you haven't, I'll describe it for you. Like I mentioned at the beginning, in the center of the island is a small forest, and in the middle of the forest is a small clearing. The clearing has a shaded, decent-sized pond on the right, and is said by some to have mystical properties (this, of course, is true). Next to the pond is an ancient but healthy weeping willow. And underneath the willow tree, concealed by its long, thick branches, is an old black pot laying on its side. This, of course, is the infamous pot-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow, but it's not full of gold. No, contrary to popular belief, this pot serves a different, special purpose.

And at the moment, it was bathed in a golden glow.

"I've never seen it do _that_ before," Cantaloupe whispered to Red.

"Me neither. But this is probably normal. After all, we've never witnessed the birth of a new group of Rainbow Fairies."

"Yeah, because last time we were the ones making the grand entrance!" Cantaloupe paused as she noticed something else. "Hey, look, there's the king and queen. Let's go ask them."

Red agreed and, beckoning for the other fairies to follow, flew to the willow tree, where its long branches had been parted, and landed on the ground next to the pot, where King Oberon and Queen Titania stood. But they weren't alone: Bertram, as the head frog footman, had naturally joined them, and Madame Grey, wearing her usual grey dress with her silver hair gathered in a severe bun, was there, too.

Madame Grey is the headmistress of what is known as the Fairy Academy—a rather austere brick building in a place somewhat separated from Fairyland. The year after a group of fairies is born, they are taken to the Academy and are raised there for the next nine years of their life. Before the age of five, they are kept in a large nursery with all the other baby fairies. After their fifth birthday, the fairy sisters are moved to the dormitories, and their schooling officially begins. They are, of course, taught the same things that a human child typically learns in kindergarten through fourth grade (like Math, Reading, and Music), and are also taught how to use their special fairy magic. Finally, on their tenth birthday, the fairies will graduate from the Academy, and take on their duties.

Red and her sisters stood in a line and curtsied to the king and queen. "Good morning, your majesties," they said simultaneously.

Madame Grey cleared her throat expectantly.

Hastily the girls turned and curtsied to the headmistress. "Good morning, Madame Grey!" they said. Madame Grey smiled, satisfied.

The fairies had learned a long time ago that Madame Grey was very strict, and was not to be disappointed. Red's friend April the Rain Fairy had once asked Queen Titania why someone like Madame Grey, with her "iron fist", was the headmistress of the Fairy Academy.

"Well, we don't want any of our fairies growing up coddled, do we?" Titania had replied with a smile. "Besides, Madame Grey is also my sister." Many found this last bit rather hard to believe.

Back to the present. "Oh, it's so good to see you again, my dearies," Madame Grey gushed to the girls. "I'm so glad you came. It must be awfully hard to come and see the newborn fairies that will soon take your place!"

"Yes, Madame Grey," Red answered with clenched teeth. If this had been anyone else, Red would've accused them of adding insult to injury.

Fortunately, Queen Titania came to their rescue. "That's enough, dear sister," she said patiently, putting a hand on Madame Grey's shoulder. "Let's not make this any harder on them." Then the queen turned to the girls. "But truly, we are glad that you could come."

"It's our pleasure, your majesty," Lemon said.

"Yes, we wouldn't miss this for anything," Plum chimed in.

Suddenly there was a low humming sound, and everyone turned to see that the pot had started vibrating. King Oberon motioned for everyone to stand back. "We need to give the pot some space," he explained quickly.

As the vibrations turned to violent quivers, Red turned to the queen and asked, "How long is this going to take?"

"The whole process usually lasts the entire day," Titania replied. "Quite a bit of time passes between each fairy's birth."

"I have a question, too," Blueberry said, coming over. "How will we know when there is a set of twins?"

"There is a time limit we use," the queen said. "If two fairies are born within fifteen minutes of each other, then they are identical twins. If they are born within thirty minutes, then they are fraternal twins. Anything longer than that means that they are not twins."

Blueberry nodded. "Thanks, that's good to know. And there's always at least one set, right?"

"Yes, that's right." Then the queen's eyes widened, and she motioned for the girls to be quiet. "Hush. Here comes the first one."

The words were barely out of her mouth when there came a sudden flash of golden light, the pot jerked violently, and a tiny figure tumbled out onto the grass. The pot's shaking died back down to a barely noticeable vibration.

Red blinked to clear the glare from her eyes, and stared in surprise. "Oh! She's...adorable!"

Sure enough, it was a newborn fairy. She had a feathery blonde head and rosy cheeks. A white cloth diaper was already tied around her chubby hips, and her tiny, triangular wings were tinged with scarlet.

"Looks like she's yours, Red," Blackberry remarked upon noticing this fact.

Curious, Red swooped forward on her wings and scooped up the baby in her arms. The girl cooed as Red tickled her on the nose. "Oh, just look at her!" Red said to the others.

As everyone crowded around the baby girl, Cantaloupe cocked her head, clearly confused about something. "Wait a second. If she's the new _Red_ Fairy, then why isn't her hair auburn, like Red's?"

Red glanced back at her own long hair, then at the baby's blonde head, and saw that Cantaloupe was right. "Yeah, why is that?" she asked, turning to the king and queen.

"Ah, I see that we forgot to tell you girls something," said King Oberon, stepping forward. "You remember when Madame Grey told you, back when you were students at the Academy, that uniformity was expected from each group of fairies?"

Madame Grey beamed at the mention of her name. The girls nodded, observing their matching and color-coordinated strapless leather dresses, cowboy boots, and hairstyles (long and straight, with no bangs or layers).

"Well, this generation is going to be a little different. Instead of focusing on consistency, we have decided that we want them to value uniqueness. This means that they get to choose their individual appearance."

"We also believe that each group of fairies will not all necessarily be of the same race," Queen Titania added. "You know that you girls are white; then some groups, like the Sport Fairies, are black; and other groups, like the Petal Fairies, are oriental. But this probably will not be the case for this generation."

"What else is different?" Plum asked.

The king and queen thought for a moment. Then Bertram spoke up. "I believe that this group isn't going to come in the usual sequence. Is that right, your majesties?"

"That is correct, Bertram," King Oberon replied. "The fairies in this group most likely are not going to be born in color order."

"Darn," muttered Cantaloupe under her breath. Everyone laughed.

"Hey, can I name the girl now?" Red asked.

"Not just yet," Queen Titania told her. "You must wait until her sisters are born. Then you can decide on a name."

Red nodded, even though she had already made up her mind.

The rest of the day passed slowly, as everyone waited for the birth of the new fairies. Sure enough, they weren't born in color order, and had unique hair colors. And instead of the customary single set of twins, there were two sets; one identical, and one fraternal.

On the sixth flash, which was around seven o'clock in the evening, a bright-eyed girl with fluffy hair tumbled out of the pot to join her twin, who had been born nearly fourteen minutes ago. No sooner had she been scooped up off the grass than the pot stopped shaking altogether, and its glow faded away.

"That's weird," Cantaloupe commented, absently pulling her baby's curious hands away from Plum's purplish-brown hair. "I never saw the Indigo Fairy's birth. What happened to her?"

At that moment Madame Grey shrieked, and everyone turned to see what was the matter. To everyone's shock, a baby fairy with cinnamon skin, tufts of blue-black hair, and indigo-tinged wings clung to Madame Grey's head! The baby girl was pulling strands of silver hair out of the headmistress's bun with one hand, and waving her spectacles around with the other.

Blackberry burst out laughing. "Now that's the kind of girl I want to raise!" she announced, crossing over to extract the baby fairy off of Madame Grey, who all but shoved the girl at Blackberry.

Meanwhile, Cantaloupe had noticed something else. "Take a look at the branches up there," she said, pointing up to the boughs of the willow tree.

Everyone looked. What they saw were what looked like splotches of indigo-colored paint running from the drooping branches directly over where Madame Grey stood, all the way down to the base of the tree trunk in a rambling path.

Bertram hopped over to the tree and prodded one of the splotches on the trunk with a webbed foot. "Looks like it's been here awhile," he said upon rejoining the group.

"Which means," concluded Blueberry, "that the girl was born quite some time ago." She frowned. "But we never saw her come out of the pot!"

"Then how in all of Fairyland did that happen?" Kiwi wondered aloud.

Queen Titania shook her head, thoroughly baffled. "Who knows? This new generation is going to be a mystery, even to us!" King Oberon nodded in agreement.

"And that is saying something!" Bertram put in. The king and queen chuckled.

"Now hold on a minute," Lemon said, cutting their laughter short. "Don't we get to name our girls now?"

"Ah, yes," said King Oberon. "We did promise that you could name them when the time came, now didn't we? Well, go ahead then."

"Plum should go first," Lemon insisted. "We'll go in backwards order." The other sisters nodded in consensus.

"Okay," said Plum. "I've already thought of a name—I'm going to name her Heather."

"That's very pretty, Miss Plum," Bertram said.

She blushed. "Thanks. I thought of it this morning, when I saw the heather plant outside our house."

"My turn," said Blackberry. "Well, that little stunt reminded me of that time when Sapphira 'accidently' spilled ink all over Madame Grey's pile of pop quizzes." At this the headmistress shot Blackberry a murderous glare. The baby girl she was holding, however, looked up with a mischievous gleam in her dark blue eyes, as if this were the kind of thing she might do herself. "In fact, this little girl has Sapphira written all over her face. Anyhow, I think I'll name her Inky. It fits her personality."

Blueberry giggled. "Ooh, I like it! Now if only I could think of something that good for this little sweetheart." She looked down at the baby in her arms, who at the moment was gazing at the sunset with a dreamy expression on her face.

"Looks like somebody's about to fall asleep," Cantaloupe remarked. "At least she knows when her bedtime is!"

"No, I think she's just admiring the sunset," Blueberry replied. "And it's a very pretty one, too. It's not often that Magenta can paint something that pretty in the sky—hey, wait, that's it!"

"What, you're naming her after the sunset?" Kiwi joked.

"No, the sky! Her name will be Sky." Sky cooed to show her approval.

"Ah, that's even better!" Kiwi said. "Now as for you—" she patted her girl's brunette head, "—I'll name you after something in this clearing. After all, there's tons of green stuff here!" Kiwi paused to look around. "Hmm. Tree? No. Grass? No. Leaf? No. Bush? _NO!_ Mm, Fern? Yeah, that works. You're Fern."

"Finally!" declared Lemon. "Alright, now let's see . . . . I think you deserve a cutesy name to match your cutesy face!" Lemon tapped the baby's nose, and the baby beamed, her hazel eyes twinkling. "Hey, look at her face! It's glowing, like sunshine. Oh, I like that—Little Miss Sunshine! But we'll do Sunny for short, okay?" Sunny let out a squeal that sounded like, "Yah!"

"Okay, it's my turn. Now I think—hey! What do you think you're doing?" The baby Orange Fairy was squirming in Cantaloupe's arms, apparently reaching for something behind her. Cantaloupe turned around and flew to a nearby maple tree. "Is this what you were looking at, huh?" The little girl got even more excited and even started feebly flapping her pointed orange wings, leaning forward so far she almost fell out of Cantaloupe's arms.

"What's she after?" Plum shouted out from behind.

"I think she's looking at the tree resin dripping down the side," Cantaloupe called over her shoulder. She flew closer and, sure enough, the baby girl plunged her hands into the sticky sap. A few moments later the girl drew back, clutching something in her tiny fist. As Cantaloupe flew back to join her sisters, she managed to pry open the girl's fist and pulled out a piece of hardened resin.

Everyone else crowded around to look at it. "Why'd she want _that_?" Blackberry asked in confusion.

But Cantaloupe had, of course, already caught on, and started to chuckle. "You're a smart little fairy, aren't you?" she said to the baby fairy, who giggled back. Cantaloupe turned to the others and explained. "It looks like Amber took the naming matters into her own hands!"

"Amber? What do you mean?" Lemon said, looking at Cantaloupe quizzically.

"Well, that's what this is," she replied, holding up the piece of resin. "Hardened tree resin is called amber. So, this _must_ be what Amber here wants for a name!" She kissed the top of Amber's head, and the girl giggled again.

And now it was Red's turn. She looked down at the new Red Fairy, who was staring at her baby sisters with a solemn look in her ice-blue eyes. Again, Red was reminded of her old mentor Ruby, who had been fiercely protective of not only her own sisters, but Red's sisters as well. Red had always admired Ruby's courage and drive, and was constantly trying to mimic her. It looks like she'll be the same way, Red thought, feeling a bittersweet twinge of emotion as she gazed at her mentee. Then she looked back up at the other ten expectant faces, and spoke the name she had been pondering all day.

"Ruby."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Red felt a tap on her knee.

Closing her book, she looked down to see the four-and-a-half-year-old Ruby the Red Fairy standing in front of her with her head cocked to one side. Ruby pointed to the book and said, "What's that?"

"This? It's a book," Red answered, holding up her copy of Little Women. "I was just reading it."** A/N Many things that show up in this story are related to humans rather than fairies. This is because many areas of Fairyland have started to assimilate to human society; in case there was ever a run-in with a human, the fairy wouldn't seem as foreign to the human.**

"Can I read it?"

Red laughed. "You don't know how to read yet, Ruby."

"But I wanna read it," Ruby insisted stubbornly.

"Alright, then." Red gave in and handed her the book. "You can look at it."

Grinning, Ruby plopped down on the floor in front of Red's chair and eagerly opened the book. Unfortunately for her, Red's book didn't have any pictures in it, so all she could look at were meaningless letters and numbers. After trying to make sense of the written words for a few minutes, even by holding the book at different angles, Ruby dropped it, still open, in her lap, crossed her arms, and let out an exasperated sigh, her lower lip curling up in a look of annoyance.

Sunny the Yellow Fairy and Sky the Blue Fairy wandered over at that point, Sky with a paintbrush in her hand and Sunny with paint on her face. They looked at Ruby for a moment, then looked at each other and conversed quietly for about a minute. After that, Sky made her way to Red and stood on tiptoe to whisper in her ear:

"Wooby don't know how to wead," she said in a serious voice.

Red smiled and patted Sky's head, right between her fuzzy blonde pigtails. "No, she doesn't," Red agreed, "and neither do you. But after your birthday in two days, you and your sisters are all going to start learning how."

Ruby perked up at this. "Really?" she said. "Are_ you_ gonna teach us, Red?"

Red shook her head. "I'm afraid not. Some of the other senior fairies will be teaching you. Madame Grey will also supervise your classes from time to time."

"Oh." Ruby stared at the book with a downcast expression.

Sunny pouted. "I doh' wike Mada' Gwey!" she declared.

"I know you don't, but she's the headmistress, and you'll have to live with it." Then Red stood up and picked up Sunny with a grunt. "And speaking of Madame Grey, let's wash this paint off your face before she sees it."

"Okay, Wed," said Sunny as they left the noisy nursery. Next door was the infirmary, and it was here that Red found Lemon, who was putting a bandage on a toddler fairy in a light green jumper. The poor girl had skinned her knee after tripping over a stray toy.

"There you go, Abigail," said Lemon. The young Breeze Fairy sniffled one last time, then grinned and skipped off toward the nursery, her tangled auburn pigtails flying. Then Lemon looked up and saw Red. "Hey, Red. Hi, Sunny!" Then she laughed. "Sunny, just because you're a Rainbow Fairy doesn't mean you have to wear a rainbow on your face!" Lemon scooped up Sunny—and nearly dropped her. "Whoa! You're getting heavy. What you been eating, girl?"

Sunny giggled. "I gwowing, Wemon!"

"Well, you are very yellow, Sunny, so I suppose you could be glowing."

"Noooo, not 'gwowing', I said 'gwowing'!"

"Oh, _growing!_ Well, that you are. Now come on, let's wipe off that rainbow mustache."

As Lemon rummaged around in the cupboards for a pail, Red asked, "So where's Autumn at?" Autumn was the senior Breeze Fairy.

"Autumn? Oh, she's running an errand, going to get some more herbs from the garden." By this point, Lemon had found a pail, and crossed over to the water barrel to fill it. "Otherwise, yeah, it would've been her tending to Abigail, not me."

"Ah." Red hesitated for a moment, then blurted out, "It must be hard for you and the others to not be able to see the girls that often."

Lemon paused, and her eyes unnaturally misted over. "Yeah, it can be. But remember," she went on, screwing the handle on the spigot, "we all agreed that you should be the main mentor. After all, that's what the old Ruby did, and you were, of course, the closest to her."

Red shrugged. "I guess you're right. I just don't ever want to seem like I'm bragging."

"Don't worry, we all know you're modest. With any luck it'll rub off on the little ones." Lemon dipped the washcloth in the pail and set to work on Sunny's face. Then she looked over Sunny's yellow clothes and hair to make sure there wasn't any paint on them. "You know, I really wish Madame Grey would adopt the new 'Uniqueness Policy'."

"I know, right?" Red agreed. "I'm getting sick of seeing everyone in those jumper uniforms. And I thought it was bad enough when we had to wear them."

Lemon nodded. Ever since the Academy had been founded, Madame Grey had put every fairy student in a school uniform. This included a jumper, a white long-sleeved shirt, white-striped tights, and Mary Janes. The jumper, tights, and Mary Janes were all color-coordinated to match the wearer's wing color. All of the clothes had a spell put on them so that they would grow as the wearer did, then shrink back to infant size when the wearer graduated. That way, they could be used again with the next generation.

"Well, she'll probably accept it eventually," Lemon said finally. "It just may take a couple generations!"

Red laughed. "You're right. But in the meantime, I wonder how she'll handle their outfit choices when the girls graduate."

"That's a good question." Satisfied with her inspection, Lemon gave Sunny a quick peck on the cheek, then set her down. Sunny gave Lemon a hug, then ran back over to Red.

"Ready to go back to the nursery now?" Red asked her.

Sunny nodded eagerly. "Yah! I wah go pway wiff Inky!"

"But I thought you were playing with Sky?"

Sunny shook her head. "Sky is busy wiff ha painting. I doh wah innawupt ha agah."

Both Red and Lemon burst out laughing. Red patted Sunny's head. "Of course you don't. Now let's go." She took Sunny's hand and led her through the door, then Sunny turned around and waved a chubby hand. "Bye, Wemon!" she said.

Lemon waved goodbye, then Red closed the door and watched as Sunny took off in the direction of the toy area, where Inky was playing. Then Red sat back down on her chair and reopened Little Women.

"Wha' you doin' Inky?" Sunny asked, plopping down next to her sister, who was holding a wooden train in one hand and a wooden play mallet in the other.

Inky didn't look up. "I'm trying to fix this train. It don't wanna roll backwards." That said, she took the mallet and banged on top of the train several times. She was banging so hard that one of the wheels popped off and fell in Sunny's lap.

Sunny held it up and looked at it. "Inky, you bwoke da twain," she chided.

Inky took the wheel and stared at it for a moment, then grinned. "Let's give it to Heather as a present," she told Sunny in a mischievous-sounding voice.

"Okay!" Sunny said enthusiastically. They both got up and toddled over to an alcove known as the napping corner. The two girls stepped around several grey cots before they found Heather, fast asleep and lying on her side facing them.

"Ready?" whispered Inky, and Sunny nodded. "One, two—three!" Inky threw the wheel at Heather's chest and she and Sunny yelled, "Boo!"

Heather, light sleeper that she was, immediately jumped up and yelped in surprise. Then she narrowed her grey eyes at Sunny and Inky, who were tittering like squirrels. "That wasn't funny, Inky!" she declared, tossing her curly blonde pigtails and brushing the wheel off her violet-colored jumper.

Fern, who had been trying to nap (without much success) on a cot next to Heather's, stood up and moved between her sisters. "Inky, that wasn't very nice," she stated in a soft but firm voice that one wouldn't normally hear from a preschooler. "Say you're sorry."

Inky sulked. "We were only trying to have some fun," she said in a pleading tone.

"I _know_ that," Fern said patiently, "but it isn't nice when someone's sleeping. It would've been better if you did it when she was awake. Remember that next time, okay?"

"Okay, Fern," Inky mumbled.

Sunny looked back and forth between the two, then asked Fern, "You stiw wuv Inky, wigh'?"

Before she could answer, Inky lunged forward and gave Fern a big bear hug, nearly knocking her over. "Of course she does!" said Inky, who was very perceptive at times like these. "She's just trying to help, that's all."

As Sunny and Inky left the napping corner, Heather turned to Fern and grumbled, "It would've been _better_ if they didn't do it at all, y'know."

Fern nodded. "I know. But you can't tell Inky that. She won't listen. And you gotta try to ignore it."

"I do," Heather quipped. "But Red says I get cranky if anything wakes me up from my nap." She yawned, and curled back up on her cot. "So I'm going back to sleep."

"Okay," said Fern. "I'm not very sleepy. I think I'll go find Amber."

That didn't prove to be too difficult, as from across the nursery there was suddenly a loud_ thump_, followed by a loud _crash_, which was followed by an equally loud, "Didn't hurt!" Somewhere in the middle of that sequence, Fern's sharp green eyes caught a flash of orange in the midst of the commotion. "Oh, Amber," Fern groaned, and hurried off in that direction.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Two days later the date was June 14, a Sunday. For most of the little girls at the academy, including the young Rainbow Fairies, this was their birthday. (For some, their birthday was the thirteenth, depending on whether the Summer Solstice was on the twentieth or the twenty-first—fairies are always born exactly a week before the Midsummer Ball.) **A/N Today was also when the new Petal Fairies were born.** The celebration this year was especially festive, as the Rainbow Fairies were now turning five, which meant that tomorrow, on Monday, they were to move out of the nursery and begin their schooling.

And tomorrow came.

"Wake up, Ruby," Red whispered, gently shaking the girl's shoulder.

Ruby yawned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?" she mumbled sleepily.

"It's time for me to get you ready," Red answered, lifting her up out of the crib. "I had to get you up early. You and your sisters are moving into the dormitories today."

"Really?" Ruby said with wide eyes. She turned and looked back at the crib she had slept in since she was a baby. "Are we gonna get real beds?"

Red smiled. "Yes, of course you are. That's not all you'll be getting, though," she added.

Ruby gave her mentor a quizzical look. "What else are we getting, Red?"

"You'll see," Red told her, tapping her on the nose before setting her down on the floor. "Now come on. Let's go to the nursery."

Red and Ruby wove their way through the cribs to the door of the nursery's large bedroom, which led into the nursery itself. Red opened the door and led Ruby through. Both of the girls' sisters were already in the room, with the mentors getting the mentees ready. The two girls went over to an unoccupied chair, upon which Red had already put Ruby's clothes.

"Let's get you dressed, Ruby," Red said, picking up the pile of clothes and sitting down in the chair. She helped Ruby pull off her red footed pajamas and put on her jumper uniform. Then Red pulled out a comb, which she set upon her lap, and began fumbling with the hair ties on Ruby's pigtails.

"What're you doing, Red?" Ruby asked.

"I'm taking out your pigtails," Red replied. "Madame Grey says that student fairies need a different hairstyle than nursery fairies, so I'm going to put your hair in a half-ponytail." As she said this, Red pulled out the second elastic, and began combing out her blonde hair. Ruby reached back and felt the top of her head where the pigtails used to be, then ran her hand down to the ends of her hair, which fell down below her ear to her jawline. She looked around at her sisters and saw them also trying to get used to the absence of pigtails. Fern seemed to be taking it especially hard, as Ruby noticed a small tear silently streaming down her face.

Then Ruby heard a faint _snap_, and Red said, "There, all done! And when your hair gets longer, I'll pull the rest back into a full ponytail."

Ruby nodded. "Can I go see Fern now?" she asked.

"Of course, Ruby. But be quick about it—Madame Grey will be here soon."

"Okay." Ruby hurried over to where Fern stood patiently as Kiwi was putting in the hair tie. "Are you alright, Fern?" she asked, concerned.

Fern slowly shook her head. "No," she whispered, wiping away her solitary tear. "I want my pigtails back." Fern had never adjusted well to change.

"I know." Ruby embraced her sister. "But we hafta do what Madame Grey says. Maybe you can get your pigtails back when we're older."

Fern nodded. "I guess you're right. Thanks, Ruby."

At that moment the infirmary door opened, and Madame Grey stepped into the nursery. "Gotta go," Ruby whispered, and quickly kissed Fern on the cheek before rushing back to join Red.

"Good morning, girls," Madame Grey said cheerfully.

"Good morning, Madame Grey," all fourteen girls replied in a monotonous tone.

"I wanna go back to bed," Inky complained. "You woke us up too early."

The headmistress shot her a stern look, then went on. "Today is your first day as students of this academy. So, I am going to take you to our schooling wing and show you around. I will start by introducing you to your new bedroom in the dormitories."

Everyone lined up in color order, and they filed out of the nursery and through the infirmary. Madame Grey then ushered everyone through a door that the younger girls had never used before. It led into a short corridor that had windows instead of walls, and on either side they looked out to a receding forest that surrounded the Academy. The younger girls, who had never seen anything outside of the school (none of the rooms around the nursery had windows), rushed to the glass and stared outside in awe.

Madame Grey clapped her hands briskly. "Come along now, girls. We still have places to go, things to see."

Reluctantly they followed her through the other door and into another, longer and very spacious hallway. This one, however, had no windows but five doors on either side in addition to the door behind them and the one at the other end.

"Where do all these doors go to?" Amber inquired in her innocent voice, brushing her copper-brown bangs away from her beautiful brown doe eyes.

"These are the dormitories," Madame Grey answered. "Students' dorms are the odd-numbered ones on the left, and mentors' dorms are the even-numbered ones on the right." She gestured to the room marked with a 1. "This room will be for you young ones. Can you remember that?"

Seven pairs of eyes stared at the headmistress blankly.

Cantaloupe walked over to her and whispered in her ear, "They don't know their numbers yet."

"Ah yes," Madame Grey said, looking flustered but trying to cover it up. "Well, I'm sure you and your sisters can help your mentees find their room until they learn the number system, Tangerine."

"Cantaloupe," the senior Orange Fairy corrected softly.

But the headmistress had turned to open the door, and wasn't paying attention. "Now, I'll give you little ones some time to familiarize yourself with your new dorm room, and then we'll move on."

The little Rainbow Fairies stepped inside the room and looked around. Unlike the rest of the building, which was solely brick and tile, this room had wood-paneled walls and a carpeted floor. Lined up along one wall were seven wooden beds, each with rather drab cotton blankets and plain white pillows on them. On the opposite wall hung a wide mirror that reached up to the ceiling, and below it stood a wooden dresser as long as the mirror itself. A tiny window was set in the wall above the beds, and on the short wall opposite the entrance was another door, which revealed a small bathroom when Sunny opened it.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed. "Dis pwace has evwyfing!"

Madame Grey, who was still standing in the doorway, tsked disapprovingly. "Still lisps her speech, I see," she muttered to Lemon.

"She's not the only one," Lemon replied, offended. "Sky has a slight lisp on her R's. But they'll grow out of it eventually. Don't forget, it also took Plum a long time."

Meanwhile, Inky was investigating the dresser. She opened the top drawer and found some kind of clothing, folded up and laid out neatly in a row. Naturally, they were each in a solid color of the rainbow.

"What are these?" she asked Blackberry.

"These are your nightgowns," Blackberry told her, pulling out the indigo-colored one and shaking it out. "Madame Grey doesn't want students wearing footed pajamas, so you'll use these instead."

Inky sized up the gown and frowned. "It's too long. I don't really like it."

"Ooh, these awe pwetty!" Sky said, joining them. She picked up the blue gown and examined it. "Awe we gonna weah these instead of jumpohs?"

"No, they're our new pajamas," Inky said.

"Oh. Well, I like them bettoh than the othoh pajamas, too." Sky held it up against her thin frame and twirled around, her fine blonde hair swishing out from underneath the half-ponytail.

Blueberry, seeing Sky with Inky, joined her twin. "Her hair looks a lot thicker when it does that," she remarked.

Blackberry nodded. "It is rather limp and mousy, isn't it?" she agreed. "Come to think of it, _everything_ about Sky is rather mousy."

"I know." Blueberry sighed. "Her condition worries me sometimes. I mean, Kiwi and Plum are on the weaker end, sure, but Sky is pretty feeble. Remember when the girls were two and she caught the cold?"

"Oh, yeah, she reacted pretty violently to it. I never knew someone could throw up from getting the cold." Blackberry turned her attention to Inky, who was looking through the other drawers. "And Inky's exactly the opposite. I don't think I've ever seen any fairy more robust than her." She watched as Inky, bored with the dresser, ran to join Amber and Sunny in bouncing on the beds. "Well, I'm sure those two could give her a run for the money."

Blueberry chuckled. "I agree with you there."

Madame Grey had also noticed the three girls jumping around, and quickly strode to the center of the room. "Now then," she said loudly to get everyone's attention, "I believe you've had enough time to familiarize yourselves with your new room. So let's move on!"

The little girls groaned. "But we were having fun!" Amber protested.

"This is_ not_ the time for playing, Amber," Madame Grey admonished. "Now hurry up, unless you girls want to miss breakfast."

Everybody perked up at this, and they all filed out of the room with not so much as a single complaint.

The next room after the dormitories' main hall was small, and contained only a table and seven chairs. There were also three other doors, each on a separate wall. One of the doors was labeled, "Kitchen", but of course the little girls couldn't read this yet.

"Here is the dining room," Madame Grey said. "This is where you will eat your meals."

Heather tentatively raised a hand. "Excuse me, but . . . . how will the other fairies fit in here with us?" she asked.

"They won't," said the headmistress. "For this year, you girls are going to be the only students. But next year, when the other groups start to join you, you will simply eat at different times than them."

"Awe we gonna eat bweakfast now?" Sunny piped up hopefully.

Madame Grey sniffed disdainfully at Sunny's lisp. "As a matter of fact, yes, you are," she answered.

As if on cue, the kitchen door swung open, and a few senior fairies that the little girls didn't recognize came out holding plates, silverware, and covered platters. Within moments everything was arranged neatly around the table, and the senior fairies had disappeared back inside the kitchen.

Inky marched right up to one of the platters and lifted the lid. Her eyes lit up. "Yay! No more mush!"

"What is it?" Ruby said, peering over Inky's shoulder.

"Lemme see!" Amber said, moving to the other side to get a better look. The other four girls also crowded around to glimpse the contents of the platter.

And they weren't disappointed. In place of the bland mush that the girls were used to receiving in the nursery, there was a pile of red and white flower petals, each toasted around the edges and about as long as the little girls' forearms. **A/N This would be about the width of a finger for humans.**

"What awe they?" Sky asked Madame Grey, voicing the question that her sisters had also had on their minds.

"These are rosebud petal crepes," came the reply. "This will be your breakfast on special occasions, like today. Otherwise, you'll have porridge."

Sunny was staring at the crepes with a befuddled expression. Without looking away, she pointed out, "Dey wook vewy bowing. Is dat aw we got ta eat?"

Madame Grey sighed. "No, it isn't." She lifted the lid off of the second platter to reveal three jars of jam, chopped wild strawberries, and a bowl of cream. "Here are the things that you will put on top of the crepes. Then you'll roll it up, like so." As she was speaking, the headmistress grabbed a butter knife and spread jam across the crepe on top of the stack. Then she sprinkled some strawberry pieces on top, and rolled up the crepe like a burrito.

"That looks yummy!" exclaimed Amber, licking her lips.

The headmistress nodded at Cantaloupe, who took the crepe and set it on one of the plates. "There you are, Amber," Cantaloupe said, pulling out a chair for her mentee. That seemed to be a signal for the other little girls, who immediately clambered into the nearest chairs and waited to be served.

As Ruby took her seat, she glanced over at Fern, who was sitting between Amber and her. Fern was discreetly eyeing Amber's crepe, but what caught Ruby's attention was that Fern didn't look upset anymore.

"Are you feeling better, Fern?" Ruby asked quietly.

Fern looked over and nodded. "A little. I did like the bedroom," she murmured back.

Ruby smiled and patted Fern's arm. "That's good, I liked the bedroom, too. And I bet there's more to come!"

And there most certainly was. Once everyone had finished breakfast, Madame Grey directed the group through the door on the left. It led into a corridor much like the one between the dormitories and the infirmary, with the exception that it was L-shaped.

"Where are we going now?" piped up Amber.

"I'm going to show you around the classrooms," Madame Grey called over her shoulder as the group rounded the bend in the corridor.

As they were walking, Ruby glanced out the windows. To the left was the same forest that she had seen earlier in the first corridor. But on the right was a tall brick wall. After puzzling it over for a few seconds, Ruby realized that she was looking at the outside of the building.

_So if the classrooms are straight ahead,_ she thought, _that means we must be going around the kitchen. I suppose that makes sense—after all, Madame Grey probably doesn't want us getting in the way of the fairies working in there._

At that moment Madame Grey abruptly paused, and Ruby managed to stop herself in time before she ran into the headmistress. But Ruby had stopped so suddenly that Heather, who had been walking right behind her, slammed into her back.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Heather!" Ruby quickly apologized.

"You're fine, Ruby," Heather reassured her with a touch of impatience.

Meanwhile, Madame Grey was fumbling with a doorknob, and Ruby now noticed that they had reached the end of the hallway. Then, with a click, the door swung open, and they all went inside.

"This is the Music Room," Madame Grey said. "Music will be your first class of the day."

The first part of that explanation was, of course, completely unnecessary, for it was obvious that this classroom was meant for Music. Both the walls and floor were covered with carpeting, which, as the girls later found out, was for soundproofing. On the left, the floor rose up in steps to create miniature risers; on the right, the entire wall was almost completely lined with shelves (with a space in the middle for a door), which were stocked full of black cases, all different sizes. In the center of the room was a grand piano, and tucked in a corner behind the risers was a small enclosed bathroom. Next to the bathroom was a cluttered teacher's desk. Sitting behind the desk, furiously scribbling on a piece of paper, was a senior fairy with long wavy red-gold hair, freckled skin, and wearing a black-and-white checkered dress.

"What's she doing?" Inky asked, standing on tiptoe to get a better look.

Before the headmistress could even open her mouth, Cantaloupe spoke up. "I think Harmony's in one of her 'genius modes', where she writes music like crazy. Whenever she gets like this, Harmony usually completely zones out."

"Yeah, she probably doesn't even realize we're here," Kiwi added.

Madame Grey, looking slightly rattled, patted Cantaloupe on the shoulder. "Yes, thank you, Tangerine—"

"Cantaloupe!" she ground out, showing her irritation.

"—for that wonderful explanation!" Madame Grey went on without missing a beat. "Now then, let's keep going!"

As the group headed for the door between the shelves, Sunny asked Lemon, "Who's Hawmony?"

"She's the senior Music Fairy," Lemon told her. "Do you remember Melodie, from the nursery?"

Sunny nodded.

"Well, Harmony is Melodie's mentor. She's also going to be your music teacher."

"She does wook pwetty," Sunny agreed. Lemon smiled, unsure of where that comment had come from.

Madame Grey led the group through the classrooms in clockwise order, and introduced the little Rainbow Fairies to their new teachers: Sonya the Sunday Fairy for Math, Winter the Snow Fairy for Science, Velvet the Pony Fairy for Social Studies, and Celeste the Moonstone Fairy for Language Arts.

Finally the group got to the Art Room. But unlike the other classrooms, this room didn't have a senior fairy sitting at the desk.

"Where's the teacher?" Ruby wondered aloud to Madame Grey. "She's not in here."

The headmistress cleared her throat, and Blueberry stepped forward. "Actually, yes she is. _I'm_ the Art teacher."

The little girls stared at her in astonishment. Then Sky rushed forward and threw her arms around Blueberry's waist. "I think you'll be a gweat teachuh, Bluebewwy!" she declared.

All of the senior fairies laughed as the other little girls broke out into a cheer. Even Madame Grey started to smile before catching herself. But she didn't try to silence the cheering, and instead waited for it to die down before leading the group (minus Blueberry, to Sky's dismay) out into the corridor.

Then the headmistress led them back to the dormitories and ushered the little girls in their room. Then she turned to the senior fairies and said, "Now which one of you is the main mentor?"

"That would be me," said Red.

"In that case, Strawberry, I'll put you in charge of this," Madame Grey told her, handing her a piece of paper. "As for the rest of you," she went on, indicating Red's sisters, "I believe you all have other duties to attend to, correct?"

The five seniors sighed. "Yes, Madame Grey," Lemon answered unhappily.

Madame Grey put her hands on her hips and looked at them expectantly. "Then I would suggest you go take care of them."

Reluctantly the five girls hugged their mentees goodbye, made plenty of promises to visit on the weekends, then hurried off to their chores.

When they were gone, Madame Grey also took her leave, but not before leaving Red with some final instructions: "Be sure to keep the girls in their room until their first class. Use the time to go over their schedule." Then she, too, was gone.

Red looked down at the paper she was holding. On the front was the general Academy Schedule. She flipped it over. On the back was the individual Lesson Schedule.

**A/N I wanted to post a picture of the schedules, but FanFiction wouldn't let me, sadly :( . But I'll probably devote a whole chapter to showing what the schedule looks like next time.**

Red looked up from the schedules to find the little fairies clustered around the doorway, watching her. "Alright, girls, you heard what Madame Grey said." She held the paper up. "Let's get inside your room and I'll go over this with you."

The little girls obediently went back inside. But Ruby, who was staring at Red curiously, didn't budge. "Is Strawberry your real name?" Ruby asked.

Red grimaced. "Yes, it is. But I don't really like it that much."

Ruby nodded understandingly. "Okay. I won't call you that, then."

"Thank you, Ruby," Red said, smiling. "Now in you go."

Quickly Ruby hurried into the dorm room, and Red closed the door behind them.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N So I don't remember if I promised to put the schedules in this chapter or not, but due to some time complications on my part it won't happen for a bit. Anyhow, these next few chapters are going to be snapshots of their classes over the next four-ish months, with one snapshot of one class per chapter. Oh, and the snapshots won't necessarily be in order. DISCLAIMER: Don't own the series. Wish I did, but no.**

Chapter 3

_"Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea_  
_And frolicked in the autumn mists in a land called Honalee_  
_Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff_  
_And brought him strings and silly wax and—"_

"Stop!" Harmony interrupted, signaling for Kymberlie the Piano Fairy to stop playing. She then turned a shrewd eye on the little Rainbow Fairies. "It's 'sealing wax', not 'silly wax'!" Harmony paused thoughtfully, then asked, "How did you girls come up with that, anyway? Because I know I told you the right words yesterday."

The sisters lowered their music and exchanged guilty glances. Then Sky said quietly, "I huhd it fwom Sunny."

"Buh Inky toh' me dat ih was 'siwwy'!" Sunny quickly countered.

Everyone looked at Inky expectantly. Drawing herself up to her full height, Inky confidently stated, "I changed it to 'silly', 'cuz I liked it better."

Amused, Harmony raised an eyebrow. "But that's not how the song goes. Sing it the right way, please."

Inky huffed and stamped her foot. "But I don't like it! I wanna sing it _my_ way, 'cuz it's funner!"

Harmony sighed in exasperation. "Inky, you're being very ornery. Do you want me to get Madame Grey and have her sort this out?"

The Indigo Fairy glowered at Harmony, but said nothing, knowing she had already lost this argument.

"Good. Now let's sing this the right way. From the top, girls!" She motioned to Kymberlie, who began playing a lively accompaniment on her piano.

Fortunately, the girls made it through the rest of the song without any more trouble. After the last chord was sung, Harmony applauded happily. "Wonderful! You girls sounded great!" Then she turned to Kymberlie. "Do you think they're ready, Kym?"

Kymberlie grinned and nodded, her caramel-colored ponytail bobbing up and down. "Yup, I think they are," she agreed.

"Alright, then!" Harmony said, clapping her hands in delight. "Girls, today we're going to figure out what your ranges are. This means we'll determine whether you sing the high notes best or the low notes best, otherwise known as the Soprano and Alto ranges."

"Why do you wanna do that?" Amber wondered.

"So you girls can sing harmonies," the Music Fairy answered. "Kymberlie and I will show you. Listen—" That said, the two senior fairies launched into a two-part a cappella arrangement of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", with Harmony on the soprano part and Kymberlie on the alto part. "Like that," Harmony explained once they had finished.

"That sounded very pretty," Heather complimented.

"Why, thank you, Heather. Now, let's get started!" Harmony pointed to Ruby. "We'll start with you, Ruby, and just go down the rainbow. Here, come on up to the piano," she added, beckoning.

Ruby hopped down from the carpeted risers and hurried over to stand by Kymberlie.

"Actually," muttered Harmony, "Why don't we have you stand here . . . ." She put her hands on Ruby's shoulders and steered the little girl over to the other side of the piano. "There! That way I can hear you better." Harmony motioned to Kymberlie, who played the middle C, then turned back to Ruby. "Now sing that on a 'mah', and hold it."

"Maaahhhhhhh!" sang Ruby.

"Good, now up to the F." Kymberlie played the note, and Ruby sang it. Then Harmony had her sing the high C, followed by the high F, then back down to the middle C, and finally the low F.

"Hmm," said Harmony when Ruby was done. "You have pretty good range, but I think you're best with the high notes. I'll make you a First Soprano."

"Does that mean I get to sing up high?" Ruby asked.

Harmony smiled. "Yes, it most certainly does. Now, stay down here by the piano until we figure out what your sisters' ranges are. In fact," she added, turning to the other little girls, "why don't you all come down here, so we get through with this quicker."

There was a series of thumps as the rest of the Rainbow Fairies hurried down the risers to the piano.

"Great! Now, let's keep going. Your turn, Amber."

Five minutes later, Harmony had the girls grouped on the risers as follows: Ruby was the lone First Soprano, Sky and Sunny were Mezzo-Sopranos, and Heather, Amber, and Fern were Altos. The only one Harmony had trouble figuring out was Inky.

"Well, I'm just not sure where to put you, Inky," Harmony finally confessed after several minutes of having her sing up and down the octaves. "I mean, your high range is just as good as Ruby's, but your low range surpasses that of all your other sisters, even Heather's."

"Maybe I could _choose_ my section?" Inky asked hopefully.

Harmony sighed and shook her head, smiling. "Let me guess. You want to be a First Soprano?"

Inky eagerly nodded.

"Oh, alright. But on one condition: if the Mezzos or the Altos sound too weak in a certain song or section of a song, you have to sing that part. Got it?"

"Yup!" Inky said happily. Then, without waiting to be told, she skipped up the risers to stand between Ruby and Sky.

"So," Harmony went on, addressing the whole group, "now we're going to sing through _Puff the Magic Dragon_ again, except this time, I'm going to teach you girls how to sing the harmonies."

By the end of the class period, the little girls had learned their parts by ear fairly well, and were able to sing the whole song without too many stumbles. When Red came to take the girls to Art Class, she clapped her hands, impressed.

"You've done a really good job, Harmony," Red told the Music Fairy.

"Thanks!" Harmony replied, then turned back to the little girls. "Now before you go, I want to remind you girls that we'll be going over music theory again tomorrow."

The girls, who were busy putting away their sheet music, acknowledged this with a nod. Except for Inky, who let out a low moan.

Red laughed. "Sounds like somebody's not too happy with you!"

Harmony cocked her head. "I've been wondering about Inky," she mused. "She always learns new music really quickly, and gets the pitch right every time. Also, she knows the answer to every question I ever ask."

"Sounds like she's very talented musically," Red put in. "Which is a relief, since she hasn't been doing too well with some of her other subjects."

"I can believe that! But Inky really is a bright girl, and she's so confident with everything about the music..." Harmony snapped her fingers, and whirled to face Red. "Do you think she has absolute pitch?"

Red's brow furrowed. "Absolute pitch? But I thought that only the Music Fairy could have that."

Harmony shrugged. "It's just a hunch. But don't forget, this is a different generation than ours. Anyhow, I'll test her tomorrow, and find out for sure."

"Yeah, let me know if she has it or not." At this point, the little girls had finished cleaning up, and Red waved them over. "Come on, girls! We don't want to keep Blueberry waiting!"

The little girls said their goodbyes to Harmony and Kymberlie, and ducked out of the room. But Inky and Sunny lingered for just a moment longer. Inky whispered something to Sunny, who grinned and nodded vigorously. Then the two girls skipped out of the room, singing:

_"Black socks_  
_They never get dirty_  
_The longer you wear 'em_  
_The blacker they get!_  
_Sometimes_  
_I think I should wash 'em_  
_But something keeps telling me_  
_No, no, not yet_  
_Not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet...!"_

**A/N The "Black Socks" song was put in on request from my sister. Doesn't really have anything to do with the plot, she just wanted Inky to sing it.**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N Hello there, everybody. Got some news for you all. So you remember how I said that this story was originally written a couple years ago, right? Well, I'm sad to say that this is as far as I originally got. Now I still plan to continue writing this story, as it's _nowhere near_ being done, but because I have so many other projects going on right now (some school-related, some writing, several both), this story isn't, unfortunately, top priority right now. So, just to recap, it's gonna be awhile before I post again, but I have not forgotten this story. Apologies, and cheers!**

Chapter 4

"Sunny?" said Winter suddenly, pausing in the middle of her lecture. "Sunny, are you listening?" When the little fairy didn't look up from her lap, it became obvious that she wasn't. Winter sighed and said to the rest of the group, "Would somebody please get Sunny's attention for me?"

Sky slid out of her chair and tapped Sunny gently on the arm. Sunny looked up at Sky, who pointed to the front of the room with a meaningful look. The little Yellow Fairy followed her sister's pointing finger, and smiled sheepishly at Winter. "I was weading," she explained.

"Reading what?" Winter asked, puzzled.

With a _thud_, Sunny dropped a huge biology textbook on her desk in answer.

Winter's jaw dropped. She stared, caught completely off guard. "But...but you don't know how to read," she said finally.

"Wehw, I wook at da pitchus. See?" Sunny opened up the textbook and jabbed her finger at a diagram of the anatomy of a grass blade. "I was jus' wooking at dis one."

Inky and Amber started giggling. Ruby said, "Sunny, that's what Winter was showing us, see?" She pointed at the chalkboard, where Winter had drawn a similar diagram.

Sunny cocked her head. "But dat one's got no cuhwuh. Is jus' bwack an' white."

The senior Snow Fairy was clearly at a loss. She ran a hand through her bobbed, pearly hair, nervously muttering to herself. At times like these, it became plain that she wasn't cut out for teaching.

Fortunately, Fern came to her rescue. "Miss Winter?" she said. "You told us at the beginning of class that we'd plant grass seeds later. Are we gonna do that now?"

Winter considered this a moment, then nodded vigorously. "Yes, of course we are. Follow me, everyone." She hurried to the back of the room to a row of cabinets and pulled out a drawstring bag. Then she shepherded her seven pupils out of the science classroom, into the hallway, and through the door at the nearest end, which lead directly outside.

Now, since I've only given a sparse description of what lies outside and around the Fairy Academy, I will now take the time to elaborate. First, one must be aware that everything in Fairyland—the trees, flowers, critters, and the like—are the exact same size as they are in the human world. With that in mind, a young Academy fairy couldn't really go out into the _grass_ to play, or she'd get lost in it. So, when a certain, secluded forest was chosen as the site for the Academy, everything from the trees to the grass was removed from the area in which the building itself was to be erected. Of course, moss was planted as turf, so that the little fairies wouldn't have to play in the dirt.

The little Rainbow Fairies scurried out the door and onto the mossy ground. As Winter joined them, she opened the drawstring bag and pulled out seven long, cream-colored seeds, handing one to each of the girls. When that was done, Winter took to her wings and with an "I'll be right back," she flew around the corner of the building.

Amber watched her go. "I wish _we_ could fly," she sighed wistfully.

Upon hearing this, Ruby and Inky turned to look at their own wings and flapped them a couple of times, to no effect. "Red told me we don't learn flight magic 'till we leave the Academy," Ruby said.

"But that's a long time!" Inky complained. "Why do we hafta wait that long?"

"It's cuz Madame Grey doesn't want us flying away and getting lost," Fern said quietly.

Inky rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't do that!" she scoffed.

Her sisters looked at her skeptically, and Inky gave in. "Well, maybe I might."

At that moment Winter returned with a watering can and several trowels. A little bit of water sloshed out of the can as Winter landed on the moss. "Now then," she said, "I want you each to take a trowel, and I'm going to show you how to dig a hole to plant your grass seeds in." As the other little fairies stepped forward to get a trowel, Winter peered at Sunny, who was crouched on the ground a little ways off. "Sunny, what are you doing?" Winter asked.

This time Sunny heard Winter and immediately stood up. Her hands, jumper, and tights were smeared with dirt. "I awehdy pwanted mine!" she declared proudly, showing off her soiled hands.

Winter's eyes widened in alarm, and she hurried over. "How deep did you plant it?" she demanded.

"Uhhh..." Sunny stared at the freshly disturbed moss. Then she looked back up and lifted her arms in a shrug. "I doh' kno'. Weawy deep?"

The senior Snow Fairy groaned. "Sunny, you're only supposed to plant it _finger_-deep. Any deeper and it won't grow."

"Hah d'you know? Ya twied it?"

"Well...no," Winter admitted. "Alright, you can try it. But it probably won't grow." Feeling very tired, Winter turned back to the other little Rainbow Fairies and helped them sow their seeds all in a row. Then she let each fairy take a turn watering her seed. When they finally went inside, Winter sank into the chair at her desk and let her pupils chat for the rest of the hour.

A few weeks later on a Monday, Winter was once more leading the little fairies outside to check on their grass plants. So far, six of the seeds had sprouted, and were steadily growing past the girls' knees. The only one that hadn't shown any signs of life was Sunny's.

But today, Sunny let out a shriek of delight. "Miss Wintah, wook!" she cried, pointing.

Winter stared in bewilderment. Over the weekend, Sunny's seed had not only sprouted, but the blade of grass had shot up to a height past Winter's head! Furthermore, its thickness matched the length of Winter's forearm.

As Sunny and her sisters rushed forward to get a closer look, Winter shook her head and smiled, at a loss for anything better to do. "You win, Sunny. Looks like you've got quite the green thumb!"

Both Sunny and Fern heard this, and inspected Sunny's thumbs in confusion. "But Sunny's the Yellow Fairy," Fern pointed out, looking hurt, "and _I'm_ the Green Fairy."

Winter laughed. "It's just an expression. It means that Sunny is good with plants. And you are, too, Fern," she added, pointing at one of the other grass blades. Sure enough, it was considerably taller than its neighbors, nearly up to Fern's shoulders.

Fern nodded. "That makes sense."

"Can we water our grass blades now?" Amber piped up. "I wanna help Sunny with hers!"

"Of course, Amber," Winter agreed, still smiling. "I'll go get the watering can."

**A/N, Yeah, not the best chapter, but that's when I got bored with it two years ago. Again, it'll be awhile, but I _will_ repost eventually!**


	6. Replying to Your Awesome Reviews! :D

**A/N This entire chapter is going to be an author's note, actually...**

**Hey, guys! Just wanted to let you all know that I really appreciate the reviews you've been sending me, and I wanted to thank you all for that. Also, I wanted to suggest the idea to you guys of getting an account on here. I've caught myself wishing that I could send you all Private Messages to reply to your awesome reviews! But since only coolizzy does, I'll just reply to them ****_en masse_**** here, alright?**

**So. Here goes:**

**orangecrush**

**Glad you're hooked! Yes, I do have two little sisters, so I kind of had enough experience to know what to write about. ;P Yeah, Sunny and Inky are going to be quite the pair, you'll see! No, I will not forget you all! ! ! See below for Jack Frost.  
**

**lilly999**

**Yeah, the reason I had them born like that was to avoid anything - er, messy. :) But I also just wanted the pot to be something significant. Glad to know that you think that about Amber and Inky! That's exactly what I was going for. And Amber _is_ my favorite RM character, so I just _had_ to make her cute.**

**Guest**

**So glad you love this! No, this story is not going to be over anytime soon, but again, it'll be awhile (probably at least a month) before the next update. Yes, nobody saw Inky come out of the pot, and that will be explained toward the end of the story, but it's nothing terribly significant. The girls will learn about Jack Frost (and the history of his family line!) in their Social Studies class, sometime in the middle of the story; but he's not going to be an actual character here.**

**Again, thank you all so much for reviewing, I really appreciate it. See you all soon!**

**- lilwoodb**

**{PLEASE NOTE: THIS CHAPTER WILL BE DELETED AFTER THE NEXT ONE IS ADDED}**


End file.
